Date: Monday 6 October 2008
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Dr Nikolaus von Bomhard, Professor Ian Diamond, Jeremy Grantham, Professor Lord Stern of Brentford
Chair: Howard Davies

To inaugurate the LSE's new Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Lord Stern of Brentford, author of the influential 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, will discuss a global deal for climate change.

The institute is the new home to all climate-change and environment research at LSE, bringing together international expertise from across the social sciences to establish a world-leading centre for policy-relevant research and training. The Institute has been funded by philanthropists Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham, through their Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, together with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Munich Re, through the new Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy.

Professor Lord Stern is the first chair of the Grantham Research Institute and also holds the IG Patel Chair in Economics and Government at LSE. Professor Lord Stern was adviser to the UK Government on the Economics of Climate Change and Development from 2005-2007, and Head of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. He was also Head of the Government Economic Service, 2003-2007; Second Permanent Secretary to Her Majesty's Treasury, 2003-2005; and Director of Policy and Research for the Prime Minister's Commission for Africa, 2004-2005. He was Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the World Bank from 2000-2003.

Dr. Nikolaus von Bomhard is Chairman of the Board of Management of Munich Re a position he has held since January 2004. He joined the Munich Re graduate trainee programme in 1985, and afterwards worked as an underwriter in the Operational Division: Fire/Treaty. In 1992 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Operational Division: Germany. In 1997 Mr. von Bomhard took on the task of building up and managing the Munich Re office in São Paulo, Brazil. In 2000 he was appointed to the Board of Management and from 2001 was responsible for the Europe 2/Latin America Division. He completed his law studies at the universities of Munich and Regensburg with a doctorate.

Professor Ian Diamond is chief executive of the Economic and Social Research Council having joined in January 2003 on an initial four year appointment. He came from the University of Southampton where he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor. He had been at Southampton since 1980 as lecturer, senior lecturer and Professor. A social statistician, Ian Diamond's work has crossed many disciplinary boundaries, most notably working in the area of population but also in health, both in the developed and less developed world, in environmental noise and with local authorities. Ian Diamond's research has involved collaboration with many government departments including the Office for National Statistics, the Department for International Development, the Department of Transport and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jeremy Grantham is chairman and co-founder of GMO, a USD 140 billion global investment management company based in Boston with offices in London, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich. Mr Grantham earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Sheffield and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has been featured in Forbes, Barron's and Business Week and is routinely quoted by the financial press. He is a trustee of the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and also serves on the investment boards of several non-profit organisations in the US.

Podcast

A podcast of this event is available to download from the LSE public lectures and events podcasts channel.

The next lecture organised by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment will be entitled Hot, Flat and Crowded and will be delivered by Thomas L Friedman on Tuesday 14 October.